In cylinder locks of conventional design, a cylindrical plug having a key receiving slot or “keyway” bounded by straight upper and lower border surfaces, and having a first series of radially disposed channels communicating with said upper border surface is rotatably secured within a close fitting cylindrical bore in a housing having a second, matching series of channels, known as “pin chambers.” The pin chambers are in coaxial alignment with the first series of channels, and open upon said bore. The opposite extremities of the pin chambers, furthest from the bore, are closed. Each pin chamber confines a coil spring in abutment with said closed extremity, a driver pin and a tumbler pin. In some locks the several paired driver pins and tumbler pins are matched to have equal total lengths, and some locks have equal length driver pins with varying length tumbler pins. Both the driver pin and tumbler pin of each chamber are downwardly urged by said spring in a direction transverse to the axis of the plug, whereby the tumbler pins span the gap between the plug and housing.
The lengths of the tumbler pins, and their axial location determine the “code” or key cut depths. When a properly configured key is inserted into the keyway of the plug, the tumbler pins are pushed up to a location flush with the outer surface of the plug, said location called a “shear line.” When all the tumbler pins are flush with the surface of the plug, the shear line is “open,” and rotation of the plug is permitted. The extent of pushed displacement of the tumbler pins to achieve an open shear line may be referred to as the “travel distance” for a given tumbler pin. The pushing action is achieved by the key acting upon the lowermost extremity of the tumbler pin, which serves as a bearing surface. If a tumbler pin crosses the shear line, the plug will not rotate.
Wafer locks, like tumbler locks, have a cylindrical key receiving plug rotatably secured within a close fitting bore in a housing. The plug holds a series of flat apertured wafers adapted to undergo sliding movement in planes transverse to the axis of elongation of the plug. An outermost edge of each wafer is adapted to enter an aligned locking groove within the bore, and the wafers are spring urged to cause such entrance into the grooves, thereby preventing rotation of the bore in the locked state of the lock.
The aperture of each wafer has an upper edge bearing surface whose distance of separation from said axis varies amongst the several wafers. A key inserted into the plug sequentially penetrates the apertures of the wafers while bearing against said upper edges. Such action causes sliding movement of the wafers against the urging of said spring interactive with each wafer. The sequential sliding movement of the wafers causes the outermost extremities of the wafers to align themselves with the surface of the plug, thereby establishing a shear line which permits rotation of the plug. The axial location of each wafer, and the radial location of the upper edge of the aperture determine the key code for a particular lock.
When a key for a specific lock is lost, it often becomes necessary to analyze the lock to ascertain the requisite code for producing a replacement key. Probe devices for determining the key cuts of locks have earlier been disclosed, as for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,535,546; 4,680,870; 5,224,365; 5,325,691; and 5,172,578. Such earlier devices are based upon mechanical principles of operation, and are often limited to use on certain models of locks, unless significant change is made in the probe device. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,133,202 and 6,382,007 disclose lock decoding systems involving key-shaped probes having contact points that achieve completion of an electrical circuit at each tumbler, and monitoring means responsive to the resultant electrical current to indicate the travel distance and axial location of each tumbler. Said earlier probe devices are usually difficult to operate, or require time-consuming manipulations, and are often of considerable cost.